SpaceX has undergone a significant management overhaul in recent weeks, with Elon Musk reportedly reshuffling the team responsible for the company's data center construction. According to sources familiar with the matter, multiple executives from SpaceX's rocket division and satellite internet operations have been brought in to replace several original leaders.

The leadership shakeup comes amid reports of structural engineering concerns and persistent reliability issues at SpaceX AI's existing data center facilities in Tennessee and Mississippi. Two sources indicated that during the initial phase of AI infrastructure development, SpaceX AI prioritized rapid construction, with some facilities operating for months without complete backup cooling and power systems, increasing the risk of equipment downtime, according to insiders.

Two people familiar with the situation noted that this latest round of personnel changes has further clouded the timeline for SpaceX's data center expansion. Over the past several months, SpaceX AI has repeatedly delayed the start of construction for data centers outside its main hub in Memphis, Tennessee, including a planned project in Texas.

One source revealed that executives brought into the AI infrastructure team include Wesley Salandro, former vice president of production for Falcon and Dragon spacecraft, and Logan McConnell, who previously oversaw launch site product support operations at the Starship base. Additionally, SpaceX AI recently recruited an engineer from Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink to lead civil engineering efforts. Job postings indicate SpaceX is actively hiring for multiple civil engineering positions.

According to insiders and LinkedIn profiles, Jake Palmer, who headed physical infrastructure for SpaceX AI, departed at the end of July, alongside several other team leads, including Zach Wells and Pablo Mendoza. Palmer joined the AI unit in September 2025 from data center operator Hut 8, while Wells previously managed data center construction at SpaceX. Mendoza, who initially served as treasury director reporting directly to Musk's right-hand man Jared Birchall before transitioning to infrastructure team director, also left, based on LinkedIn data and a 2025 organizational chart.

The SpaceX AI data center team has seen additional executive departures over the past year. Brent Mayo, former site construction manager at SpaceX AI who coordinated extensively with the Memphis city government, left for OpenAI. LinkedIn records show that Liz Balke, who joined SpaceX AI from Tesla's Dojo supercomputer project, has since moved to Anthropic's data center infrastructure team.

Ahead of a major IPO expected in June, rapid data center construction is viewed by SpaceX as a key competitive advantage, with plans for continued heavy investment in AI infrastructure. The company reports approximately 1.4 gigawatts of computing capacity currently online as of June, with expectations to exceed 2 gigawatts by year-end. CEO Elon Musk has stated that capacity will see substantial further increases by the end of 2027.

In recent months, SpaceX has inked several large-scale computing lease agreements with external partners, including Anthropic and Google. Revenue from these leases helped propel SpaceX's AI business to $2.6 billion in Q2 2026, up sharply from $737 million in the same period last year. While leasing represents a significant portion of SpaceX's overall AI revenue, Musk has emphasized the flexibility of these contracts, noting the company can reclaim computing capacity if needed. SpaceX also completed a $60 billion all-stock acquisition of coding startup Cursor in August, a deal aimed at boosting sales of its proprietary AI products.